Oscailt Goes Out On A High....
The last short films to ever be produced under the IFB's Oscailt scheme will premiere at the Corona Cork Film Festival this month and it looks like the scheme will end on a high with a number of award-winning Irish filmmakers presenting four new Irish language short films, AN RANGER, FÉILEACHÁN, FOIREANN CODLADH and NOLLAIG SHONA.Following his success with the Short Cut short film Deep Breaths last year, PJ Dillon, the award winning director and director of photography, is back with AN RANGER. Set in Conamara in 1854, it follows the story of a soldier who returns home after many years abroad with the British Army. When he finds out his family are all dead he sets about establishing what happened to them. PJ's first feature as director, Redux will shoot later this year.
AN RANGER is produced by Alex Jones with Carbon Films. Alex has wide and varied experience with credits on over 30 feature films and television series including Harry Potter 3, Bloody Sunday and About Adam. AN RANGER is her second short film as producer having produced Deep Breaths last year.
Written and directed by Cecilia McAllister, FÉILEACÁN tells the story of a young mother who has suffered a mental breakdown and tries to rebuild her relationship with her daughter but things don't work out the way she planned. Previously, Cecilia wrote and directed the award winning shorts The Fixer and Missing Link as well as a number of short documentaries. FÉILEACAN is the second short fiction piece for producer Bronagh McCartan with Lunah Productions.
Danann Breathnach's FOIREANN CODLADH is a tale about a young businessman who retires to a quaint cottage in a sleepy village. It's in an idyllic and tranquil setting, something he's always longed for, but the quiet doesn't last long... Dannann's previous short film, Dark. Bright. Red won numerous awards including the GAIA Award for Short Film at the Moondance Film Festival 2005, USA. Aislinn Ní Chuinneagáin produced FOIREANN CODLADH with Newgrange Pictures having previously been the production executive on the award winning Irish language feature film Kings.
NOLLAIG SHONA is the directorial debut of Orla Murphy which tells the story of Alan whose girlfriend walks out on him on Christmas Eve. He plunges into denial and delusion, telling himself and his Christmas tree "she'll be back any day now" but several lonely nights and one nightmare later, he snaps. He sets out, hauling the fully decorated tree through the city streets to the recycling yard... but letting go won't be that easy.
Although this is Orla's first time as director, she has experience in many areas of filmmaking including art direction and production. Freya MacKenzie who produced NOLLAIG SHONA with Vico Films and Princess Pictures has been working in independent film production and distribution for over a decade.
The Oscailt scheme which has been running since 2000, had the aim of encouraging original talent in all areas of Irish language short film making. It was funded by the IFB and TG4 and some of it's previous successes included Rogairi winning Best Long Form Short at the Fantastic Fest, Texas; Clare sa Speir winning the Bronze Award at the Hueston WorldFest and An Teanga Runda winning Best Short Film at the Belfast Film Festival.
The IFB wanted to build on the success of the Oscailt scheme and to produce more Irish language films. When the new IFB short film schemes Signatures, Reality Bites and Virtual Cinema were launched at the Cork Film Festival last year and Short Shorts and Frameworks were revamped, a strategic decision was made to open all schemes to Irish language entries to further develop opportunities for Irish language filmmakers. Since then the IFB have actively encouraged Irish language submissions for all schemes in order to encourage and maintain an Irish language filmmaking.
The Oscailt shorts will be screening in the Kino Cinema on Saturday 18th October at 4.30pm.
To find out more about the Oscailt screening at the Corona Cork Film Festival, check out the festival website.